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The 2003-04 college football season has ended. So who is the best team in the country? USC and LSU both ended the season with only one loss and ranked No. 1 in the AP and coaches polls, respectively. Should there be a playoff system for Division I college football? Because these two teams will not get a shot to decide the national championship on the field, these debates will go on for a long, long time.
I spent the past two evenings watching a lot of high school basketball at the annual Vandalia Holiday Tournament. The South Central Cougars won the tourney, and in a most dramatic fashion, I might add. Monday night, one of the Cougars hit a 3-pointer just shy of half court with no time left, banking it in to help his team beat the hosting Vandals by one point. The very next night, the Cougars played in the championship against the No. 1 seed — the defending champions from Pana High School. The game went into overtime. The score was tied with 1.3 seconds left when, for the second night in a row, that same Cougar drained a baseline jumper. They won by two.
Every once in awhile you find an athlete who has the right stuff. Talented on the field, in the classroom, with their friends, and everybody's All-American. Northwestern University has such a young man. His name is Jason Wright. I just watched Jason finish his football career the other night in the Motor City Bowl where he helped his team by gaining 336 all-purpose yards and was named Co-MVP of the game. His team came up short that night, but football is just what Jason does, it is not who he is. Jason learned a long time ago that his significance is found in Jesus Christ. His religion is not football, his truth is not his football playbook. He lives to serve Jesus Christ. His Bible is the ultimate "playbook" for his life.
She was ready to leave the locker room when a couple of friends called her over. "Try these," they said, as they offered her some small pills. "They give you energy and help you play better." Would she take the pills or turn them away?
Sound familiar? This is happening in our locker rooms, schools and hang-outs all over our communities. Student-athletes are fighting the social battles to get ahead and fit in. Many give in to the dare of this peer pressure.
Do you like to speak in public? What about in front of many adults? What about speaking in front of your school board? Three students at a local middle school did just that the other night to defend why they thought FCA should be allowed in their school. For three months, this school board tabled the decision to allow FCA to start, but these students stood their ground and continued to pursue the school board until they allowed them to speak. These brave students had to stand tall for their faith.
Set Up: All characters in the audience
Two: Hey! Aren’t we supposed to do a skit?
All: (take the stage, yelling and excited) We’re going to do a skit. (Characters speak simultaneously as follows.)
Six: I’m acting---Acting…
One: To be or not to be? That is the question…
Four: (singing) Me, me, me, me… Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain…
Two: I’m such a good actress. I got all-star cast last year…
Five: Well, my director said that I’m the best actor that she’s seen in years. Last year when I played the chicken…
Leader: Weigh nothing light on my soul
Are you still in control
Student 1: 3,000 children and teens a day see their parent’s marriage end in divorce
Leader: I desperately need You, I desperately know
Love left me hungry, life gave me pain
This world washed dreams away like the gray rain
Student 3: 66% of the population believes that absolute truth cannot be found
Leader: In you is my promise, I’m so afraid I let it slow
In You is salvation, in You is my glow
So sinking and worthless
So stinking, so fruitless
Smudges like newspaper, sooty and raw
Student 2: The suicide rate among teen has quadrupled in the last 4 decades
Jesus is standing off to the side away from the sin (can be done to “Bright Eyes” by Kim Carnes). The girl comes on stage and is trying to choose which direction to go in (the sin or Jesus). After thinking briefly, she starts toward the sin. Her caring friend comes out to try and persuade her to go toward Jesus, but the girl ignores her.
She goes over to the sin and embraces them one by one. When she is finished, she goes back to the first sin and takes his hands and starts dancing in a circle. She is smiling, but the sin has no expression. Quickly, the second sin joins hands in the circle of dancing and then the third, fourth, and fifth.
People are sitting on a fence and Jesus and Satan are at opposite ends of the fence. Jesus says, “Come and follow me.” to the first person on the fence. That person asks, “Why should I?”. Satan gives reasons to come with him while Jesus combats Satan with the Word of God and reasons to follow Him. Each person decides one way or the other until they come to the last person, who decides that the fence is comfortable. He chooses not to make a decision either way, to just stay on the fence. Satan then says, “Welcome to Hell, I own the fence.” You can follow this by reading Revelation 3:15 or just stop after the last line.
Characters: Jesus, Satan, four people on the fence
Readers' Theater: Illustration of a story told by Tony Campolo. The last gladiator competition in the Roman Coliseum was defeated by a little monk who was courageous enough to follow God's direction.
All: (heads down)
One: (looking through a dictionary) Courage: The quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty. (turn head)
Two: (imitate holding a gun) Danger!
Three: (grab ankle) Pain!
Four: (show muscle) with firmness
Five: (hand out) without fear
One: (close book) bravery. So…
Two: (step into line) Take
Three: (step into line) Courage.
Four: (step into line) Be strong
Five: (step into line) and courageous.
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